to return thanks in a speech, but would do so, with their permission, in a song); Mrs. Micawber’s Family (well known, it is needless to remark, in the mother-country), etc. etc. etc. At the conclusion of the proceedings the tables were cleared as if by art-magic for dancing. Among the votaries of Terpsichore , who disported themselves until Sol gave warning for departure, Wilkins Micawber, Esquire, Junior , and the lovely and accomplished Miss Helena, fourth daughter of Doctor Mell, were particularly
I was looking back to the name of Doctor Mell, pleased to have discovered, in these happier circumstances, Mr. Mell, formerly poor pinched usher to my Middlesex magistrate, when Mr. Peggotty pointing to another part of the paper, my eyes rested on my own name, and I read thus:
“My Dear Sir, “Years have elapsed, since I had an opportunity of ocularly perusing the lineaments, now familiar to the imaginations of a considerable portion of the civilized world. “But, my dear Sir, though estranged (by the force of circumstances over which I have had no control) from the personal society of the friend and companion of my youth, I have not been unmindful of his soaring flight. Nor have I been debarred, (Burns) from participating in the intellectual feasts he has spread before us. “I cannot, therefore, allow of the departure from this place of an individual whom we mutually respect and